Gates: Hello XP, Goodbye DOS

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Gates: Hello XP, Goodbye DOS

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NEW YORK – Windows XP's official launch Thursday was punctuated by patriotism, a bright future for this city and the entire nation ... and a ceremonious end to a vestige of the past: the venerable but clunky disk operating system, or DOS.

XP has been widely demonstrated for the last two days in Manhattan, so most of the keynote attendees appeared to be very familiar with the system. The only surprises were appearances by guest celebrities, and – for the tech industry media familiar with Microsoft's chief software engineer – increasing manifestations of Bill Gates' seemingly newfound dry sense of humor.

Gates isn't a charismatic speaker – he doesn't command the stage like Apple's CEO Steve Jobs or colleague Steve Ballmer – but he has suddenly become a master at gently poking fun at himself and his company, something the crowd seemed to appreciate.

The XP keynote kicked off with a rendition of "America The Beautiful" performed by a white-robed gospel choir gathered underneath a huge Windows XP banner. What might have been obnoxious six weeks ago seemed appropriate at the Marriott Marquis in the heart of New York City.

Gates and New York City Mayor Rudolph Giuliani took the stage shortly after and received standing ovations, which Gates said was presumably directed at the popular Guiliani.

Giuliani made a short speech stating "we have emerged stronger, more confident in our ability to handle any disaster, and more convinced that we're right and they're wrong."

Giuliani also thanked "Bill" for holding the XP launch in his town, and for donating software and computer systems after the attack. The city's original emergency command center, located below ground in World Trade Center 7, was crushed when the Twin Towers collapsed. A new command center was quickly built with donations from tech companies.

"Without those donations, and without the technology, New York would not have been able to function," Giuliani said.

Gates opened his keynote by noting that technology makes the impossible possible.

He stressed security and privacy features of XP, and said it was a common-sense system that would act as a "platform to allow people to develop on top of it."

Gates said the release of XP "marked the end of an era, the end of DOS and also the end of Windows 95."

DOS is the text-based system that powered Windows PCs, and still lurks underneath Windows 3.1, 95, 98 and Windows Me.

Windows 95 was dismissed by Gates as an operating system whose day was done. Windows 98 and Me, which received lukewarm receptions from the tech industry but are still in wide usage, got scant mention, but Windows 2000 was touted as the rock-solid framework that XP was built on.

A clip of the launch of Windows 95 was shown, featuring Gates informing the crowd that he agreed with Apple's Jobs that Windows 3.1 was a "crummy operating system," and assuring the crowd that he'd soon say that about Windows 95.

"And certainly our users have given us plenty of reasons to know that Windows 95 isn't good enough," Gates said.

A DOS C: prompt, the opening screen for all the text-based DOS programs, appeared on a large TV screen, and Gates typed "Exit," the DOS command to shut down a system.

As he prepared to hit "enter," a HAL-like robot voice pleaded with him not to shut DOS down, to which Gates responded, "They don't call your movie 2001 for nothing," and terminated the DOS program.

Gates' introduction of Jim Allchin, vice president of Microsoft's platforms group that oversees Windows, included reminisces of Allchin chiding Gates about Microsoft's "unreliable, consumer operating systems" during his employment interview.

"I told Bill I wanted to work with real operating systems," Allchin recalled, and then launched into the benefits of XP, touting the system's juxtaposition of the "high-end, power-user Windows 2000 features, and consumer friendly Windows Me components."

Regis Philbin took the stage and confessed that he was computer illiterate.

Philbin then put Gates in the Who Wants To Be A Millionaire hot seat, asking him if it was worth his time to answer questions to earn a "mere million."

"Well, actually I don't know," smiled Gates, who went on to answer a few questions about Windows XP, managing to respond without polling the audience or calling a lifeline.

Gates then said he was going out for a walk around Times Square, leaving Philbin on stage to learn how to use XP. Philbin noted that Gates would probably enjoy meeting "the naked cowboys and hot dog vendors" that Philbin seems to think populate Times Square.

Gates later "beamed back" into the keynote from a local Starbucks, where he sipped hot chocolate and chatted with former NYC Mayor Ed Koch. Gates soon moved on to the Times Square Virgin music store where he chatted with Dick Clark and then danced with a heavily tattooed man who complimented Gates on his haircut.

When Philbin lost contact with Gates via XP's instant messenger video application, Philbin ad-libbed that Gates had probably run off with his new tattooed friend.

At that point, an assistant was sent out with a backup camera and quickly located the wayward billionaire, who was standing alone in the midst of the bustle of Times Square, looking very happy.